


Jingle Bells

by melonbutterfly



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-12
Updated: 2009-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-13 00:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/130656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris comes home from work to a normal afternoon with his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jingle Bells

Chris came home to find his whole family sitting around the kitchen table, doing various things. Zach was working on something on his laptop, absent-mindedly telling Zoe the results for her maths homework because she always found the right moment to ask him (when he was busy enough so he wouldn't pay attention, but not so busy she'd disrupt his attention to his work). Rachel was quietly humming to herself while colouring in Jenny's colour book, while Jenny was playing drumsticks with two of her colouring pens. The picture alone filled him with warmth; after all the trouble he had at work, the horrifying pictures and cases, this was exactly what he needed.

"Hey, my babies!", he cooed, dropping his bag and stepping out of his shoes on the way over to them. "Don't leave your stuff all over the floor," Zach told him absently, eyes still fixed on the screen of his laptop, but Chris only grinned and kissed each of his girls on the cheek. Jenny giggled like the little girl she was, Rachel beamed at him, and Zoe pretended to roll her eyes, but didn't wipe her cheek. And Zach proved to be not as immersed in his work as he liked to make believe when he turned his head at exactly the right moment to make the kiss Chris had been planning to plant on his cheek land on his lips.

"Eeeeew!", Rachel exclaimed loudly, Jenny chiming in (simply because it was fun, not because she really knew what Rachel was finding icky), and Zoe rolling her eyes, pretending to be the mature one when just three days ago, she had been ew-ing at the TV screen in exactly the same fashion when a couple in some show had kissed. Chris giggled, pulling away from the kiss, and Zach rolled his eyes and dragged him back in by the back of his neck to kiss him twice more before he finally allowing him to draw back, to the sound of their middle child making retching noises, accompanied by their youngest daughter's ew-ing and their oldest daughter's pointedly annoyed huffing.

"So, how was your day?", Chris asked, sitting down in the free chair next to Zoe, opposite Zach. Rachel immediately launched into a tale of how her school-day had been; she was completely enraptured with their current history topic. Zoe's eye-rolling and huffing got louder the more Rachel elaborated on Ancient Egypt and how they mummified cats, until she finally interrupted. "Dad knows all that stuff, you _freak_ ," she hissed. "It's boring! My day, on the other hand-"

"It's not boring, and nobody wants to hear about how you spent all your day giggling at that _jerk_ Karl Urban because _that_ is boring!" Rachel retorted loudly. Chris interrupted before it could turn into a real fight. "Even if Zoe finds Ancient Egypt boring, I think it's pretty interesting; you can tell me all about it later, Rachel. And I'd absolutely _love_ to hear all about 'that jerk Karl Urban', Zoe." He winked at his oldest daughter, who was blushing deep red and scowling at the table. Chris pretended not to notice the triumphant glance Rachel shot her, nor when Zoe retaliated and kicked her in the shin. She wasn't wearing shoes, and the kick hadn't been too hard; it was nothing serious. Zach was pointedly keeping a straight face, but Chris could see his half amused, half annoyed eye-rolling anyway.

After their scores were even again, both Rachel and Zoe went back to their homework and colouring respectively. Zach started to tell Chris about how his day at work had been; he didn't ask how Chris' had been, because they didn't talk about Chris' work when the children were around if they could avoid it.

Until Zoe interrupted them by loudly exclaiming "Will you finally stop it!"

"Stop what?", Rachel retorted petulantly, even though she knew exactly what Zoe had meant; both her parents could see it.

"Papa!", Zoe wailed, turning to Zach. "She's doing it _again_!"

"She's doing what?", Chris asked innocently, and Zoe turned on him. "She's _singing_!"

"Which is decidedly awful and horrible of her," Zach chimed in with a pointed look to his husband. "She's been doing it on purpose all day just to go on Zoe's nerves."

"I have not!", Rachel protested loudly, whipping her head around so hard her two braids slapped into Zach's arm. The betrayed look on her face vanished the second her eyes met Zach's, though, and she caught the amused twinkle in them; she clapped both hands over her mouth and giggled. Which, naturally, only served to pique Zoe more, and she turned to Chris, looking for help. Chris only shrugged. "She is allowed to sing if she wants to, Zoe," he said. "I don't think she's doing it to annoy you, though." He threw his arm around his oldest daughter's shoulders to prevent her from jumping up and leaving in a fuss. She scowled, but Rachel shaking her head and honestly meaning it appeased her enough so she didn't push his arm off and storm off anyway.

"Now, baby, what do you think; maybe you should just sing as well. It's Christmas soon; we could sing some carols!"

"Dad, why do you call all of us baby?", Rachel asked curiously before Zoe could reply, and Chris rubbed Zoe's shoulder to make her aware he hadn't forgotten her even while he answered Rachel's question. "Because you all are my babies!", he beamed, ignoring Zach's exaggerated eye-rolling.

"But Papa isn't!", Rachel protested, and Zach threw him an amused glance over her head.

"Yeah, Papa is too," Chris nodded earnestly. "Just in a different way than you three."

"Jingle Bells," Zoe said loudly and, when everyone looked at her, elaborated "we're gonna sing Jingle Bells."

"Yaaaay!", Rachel exclaimed, throwing her arms up, with Jenny looking up from where she had been hacking at the table and chiming in again, and then Rachel jumped up and ran away to 'look for her bells'. For a moment, Zoe looked conflicted between scowling because Rachel liked her choice in songs and being triumphant about it; she finally settled for being triumphant because everyone was going to follow her lead.

Loud jingling announced Rachel's having found her bells, and then she stumbled back into the room and threw herself onto her chair. "Okay we can go!", she yelled and launched into the song. Zoe quickly joined in, trying to out-sing her; Chris was glad Rachel wasn't feeling too competitive and didn't turn up the volume to unbearable levels. Zach and Chris shared a glance over their heads, Zach's expression a mix of exasperation, amusement and a fondness so strong it could only be called love. Chris knew he was wearing the same expression, and then Zoe elbowed her dad and Chris quickly chimed in, followed by Zach and accompanied by Jenny, who was more lala-ing loudly to her own melody than actually singing along. Twenty years ago, Chris would probably have been horrified if anyone had told him he and Zach would end up this domestic, but now, he couldn't imagine anything better.


End file.
